EVIDENCE AND UNBELIEF

When meeting Jesus, one is always confronted with a decision. You cannot meet Him and remain neutral. Once you meet Him, you will either decide that He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, or else you will decide that He is either a legend, a liar, or a lunatic on the level with a poached egg.

What you cannot do is to merely pass Him off as a good man. He will not allow that. No man can do and say the things that Jesus said and merely be a good man.

One of the wonderful things about Jesus is that He did not just talk. He was more than a mere teacher. We are living in a world where everyone seems to be promising something. Jesus didn’t just talk; He delivered. That tells me something about Christianity. It is not just talk; it is life-changing. If your life has not changed, then you have no business talking.

What has happened in your life that can only be explained in terms of the supernatural? When people look at you, do they see a supernatural love at work? Are people amazed by your supernatural patience? Are you characterized by supernatural compassion?

When Jesus acted, the result was amazement. He healed this man by going to the root of his problem. Jesus cast out the demon. The healing was apparent to all who were present. The man who had been unable to talk was now speaking.

Such a miracle demanded a response from the people and the response was soon in coming. It was a twofold response.

These were responses to an obvious miracle. A man had just been healed. There was a very obvious supernatural agent at work. The miracle could not be denied and there seems to have been no attempt to do so.

People who have been lame are throwing away their crutches. People who have been deaf can now hear a pin drop. See-eye dogs are being put out of work. People are asking for refunds from funeral homes. And then Jesus comes and does still another obvious miracle in their presence.

Even the most die-hard skeptic can’t laugh off that kind of power. They cannot deny that the supernatural is taking place. Thus when people responded to the miracles of Jesus, one thing they did NOT do was to say that a miracle had not taken place. What they did do was to question the source and the significance of the miracle.

• The Source of the Miracle: Some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

• The Significance of the Miracle: Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven

Both of these responses were responses of unbelief. It might be argued that one was not as rebellious as the other, but they were both enough to elicit the condemnation of Jesus. The rest of this chapter will consist of Jesus addressing these two responses.

Jesus proceeds to give a number of reasons whereby it can be demonstrated that the charge of being in league with Satan is unwarranted.

1. Division is Detrimental: "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? (11:17-18).

When there is civil war in a nation, that nation does not prosper. When a husband and wife set themselves against one another, it is not long before their marriage begins to collapse.

By the way, the same is true of the church. The quickest way to destroy the church is to allow division to exist in our midst.

Now we come to the application. Jesus has been casting out demons. He has been in a war against Satan. If he is fighting Satan, then He is obviously not on Satan's side and not receiving His power from Satan.

2. The Devil has been Defeated: For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul (11:18b).

These critics have already conceded this point. They could not deny the obvious outward miraculous power that Jesus manifested. Satan has plainly been cast out. And they have observed and agreed that there are supernatural forces at work. The only question that they have raised are the identity of these forces. If it can be demonstrated that Jesus is not in league with Satan, then the obvious conclusion is that He must be sent from God.

3. Sons are Determinative: And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges (11:19).

Apparently attempts at exorcism were not a new thing. Others had attempted to cure such cases of demon possession, probably with varying degrees of results. Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes the methods used by one well-known exorcist in attempting to cast out demons.

He put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he adjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. (Antiquities 8:2:5).

The book of Acts tells us about a similar though unsuccessful attempt to remove a demon from an afflicted person (Acts 19:13-16).

What made the ministry of Jesus so significant was that He never failed. We read of instances where His disciples attempted to cast out demons and failed, but that was never the case with Jesus.

This is an argument from the less to the greater. If the accusation against Jesus is true and He is a false healer, then how can it be said that anyone else is a true healer since Jesus has demonstrated so much greater effectiveness in battling the forces of darkness? The very fact that others have attempted to cast out demons and have met with less than perfect results is an indictment to all those others who attempted exorcism.

4. The Kingdom has Come: But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (11:20).

The fact that God’s power has been manifested in such a mighty way in defeating the devil and his minions is a sign that God is doing something that He has never done before. He is establishing His reign upon the earth. The kingdom has come.

Do you know where the Bible first mentions the finger of God? It is in the book of Exodus where the magicians of Egypt were confronting Moses. He had performed a very obvious miracle and they had duplicated it. He turned the waters of the Nile River into blood and they duplicated it by making more blood. He brought up a plague of frogs and they were able to produce more frogs. But there was a limit to their power and when they came face to face with that limitation, they reported to the Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19).

What was recognized by the pagans priests of Egypt had been missed by these people of Israel. Those who should have recognized the finger of God did not.

5. Delegation is Limited: "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his possessions are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder" (11:21-22).

You cannot delegate more than you already have. Satan cannot delegate more power than he already has. If the power that is being used against Satan is greater that what Satan has himself, then he cannot be the source of that power.

This is illustrated by a strong man who is about to be robbed. If you want to rob a strong man, you do not go into his house and ask him to help you. He will throw you out on your ear. You must first tie him up.

Here is what Jesus is saying. He has been tying up Satan. He has been robbing the kingdom of Satan. We all once were the property of Satan. We used to belong to his kingdom.

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. (Colossians 1:13).

When we came to Christ, we were taken from Satan’s domain. We have now become a prized possession of the Son.

Jesus is in the business of tying up Satan. When He cast a demon out of a man and Satan was powerless to do anything about it, that was a demonstration of the fact that Satan had been bound. Every time that you see a man or a woman turn from their sin and come to Christ, you are seeing an example of Satan being bound.

6. Neutrality is Not Possible: "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters" (11:23).

It is impossible to remain spiritually neutral. You are either on God’s side or you are against Him. You will always be moving in one of these two directions.

A preacher was once asked how many people in his church were active. He replied, "All of them. Half of them are active for me and the other half are active against me." There is a spiritual war going on and you are an active participant. The only question is one whose side you are.

Here is the point. Jesus has already noted that He and Satan are on opposite sides of the spiritual struggle. He has been fighting Satan and binding Satan and robbing Satan. Now we see that if you are not with Jesus, then you must be on the other side. And we know what side that is. It is Satan’s side.

7. Emptiness is Inviting: "When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first" (Luke 11:24-26).

A woman from the crowd calls out words of blessing. It is a blessing directed toward Mary, the mother of Jesus. The words of the blessing are true as far as they go. They are an echo of the blessings that Luke has already recorded regarding Mary.

• Elizabeth said that Mary was blessed: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" (Luke 1:42).

Jesus is not denying that Mary has been blessed. What He is doing is shifting the focus. He is saying if effect, "Don’t be so caught up in Mary’s blessing that you miss out on your own."

Have you ever thought that you would like God to bless you and work through you and in you the way He blessed and worked in and through some of the great saints in the Bible? The point that Jesus is making is that the same God who worked in Mary will also work in you if you hear the word of God, and observe it.

This brings us to another point. It is that, while Jesus came as a baby, He didn’t stay that way. Christmas is a popular holiday. And even the image of a baby in a manger is well-received by the world because nearly everyone loves a baby. But if you come to Christ and only see the baby and never seen the Sovereign Savior who sacrificed Himself, then you have missed the whole meaning of Christmas.

Back in verses 14-16 we saw two reactions to the healing ministry of Jesus. First there were those who accused Jesus of being in league with Satan. Then there were those who wanted to see another sign. Jesus has already addressed the first group in verses 17-26. Now He addresses those who are requesting a sign.

This section began when Jesus healed a man who was demon possessed and who was unable to speak. He performed an obvious miracle. It was a miracle that could not be explained away. There were no mirrors or strings. It was not a trick. It was an obvious supernatural miracle.

I’ve heard people say, "If only God would do a miraculous sign before me, then I would believe." Others say, "If I lived in the time of Jesus and saw the things that He did, then I would be able to believe." Maybe that is true. And maybe it is not.

These people had seen signs. They had seen discarded crutches. They has seen the blind watching sunsets. They had seen the dead raised. And in this context they are seeking after a sign. Jesus refuses.

• An Only Sign: No sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah (11:29).

• A Historic Sign: For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation (11:30).

• Condemning Sign #1: The Queen of the South shall rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them (11:31).

• Condemning Sign #2: The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it (11:32).

• A Light is Meant to be Seen: "No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar, nor under a peck-measure, but on the lampstand, in order that those who enter may see the light" (11:33).

• You can only see the Light when your Eyes are working properly: "The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light" (11:34).

• If you can’t see the Light, the fault isn’t in the Light, it is in You: "The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness (11:34).

• The result of Light and Vision is that you can See: "If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it shall be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays" (11:36).

In this case, the home belonged to a Pharisee. The term "Pharisee" has come to gave negative connotations in recent times. But this was not the case in the days of Jesus. The Pharisees were the evangelicals of Judaism.

• They believed in one God.

• They believed in the supernatural.

• They held to the Scriptures as being authoritative.

• They believed in angels.

• They believed in a future resurrection.

The problems they had were not so much in what they believed but in the attitude with which the held to those beliefs. They were a people who prided themselves on their great spiritual insights, but who were spiritually blind.

There is an important principle here. It is that there are none so blind and those who think that they can see and are therefore unaware of their blindness.

The issue here was one of cleanliness: The Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal (11:38). Jesus responds by pointing out that real cleanliness must begin on the inside.

It can be seen from this table that the issue has not changed. Only the elements of the analogy have changed. The point is that true spiritual life must begin on the inside. It begins at the point of faith.

This entire chapter has been dealing with the issue of faith versus unbelief. We have already seen that there is no other position. Neutrality is merely another word for unbelief.

• Woe of an Inconsistent Lifestyle: "But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others" (Luke 11:42).

• Woe of Pride: "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the front seats in the synagogues, and the respectful greetings in the market places" (Luke 11:43).

• Woe of a Hidden Contagion: "Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it" (Luke 11:44).

• Woe to those who Hinder others: "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered." (Luke 11:52).

This was a turning point in the opposition of the Pharisees. They had already demonstrated unbelief and now they show that the reaction of unbelief to the gospel is hostility.

How about you? What is your response to the gospel? One thing is for certain, it will not be neutral. You are either for Christ or you are against Him. Which is it?